Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Tie your hands in prayer

Sometimes you pick up lessons in places and times you do not really anticipate. I picked up the kids at school today. The first thing I noticed was that Soren's shoes were untied. So we came home, I immediately sat down to teach him how to tie his shoes. I know they have gone over it at school, and a few times here at the house.

Very quickly I realized that although it was second nature for me...to teach him would require great patience, much time, and slowing down enough for my movements to be picked up. Just about that time I thought about the huge number of things the mission wants/needs to do in the coming year, let alone the coming 5-10 years, and I had one of those moments....they are not good reflections of reality, but I pictured myself as Soren. Here I sit trying to watch God work...trying to do what He wants...and if I take my eyes off Him, it all ends up in a frustrated mess. I can also see just a bit again of God doing things and it all being way beyond my level of comprehension.

That is a bit off the wall I suppose, but it hit me where I needed it today...so many steps, so little time in the day, and so much out of my control...like shoestrings way to long for my hands to tie them. I may be given a part to do in the scheme...but it is not going to be by my hands that the shoes are made ready for moving forward.

We had a meeting yesterday with the pastors about the contract for what will be expected on our behalf (and theirs) for the Church building...and for the bus. We are still in search of that bus for the Church. That will be our first step as the designs for the Church building are being finalized, then sent off for blueprints, etc...I am prayerful that we would have the bus solved before it comes time to start the process for the building. We shall see how God ties that shoe however and close our eyes in prayer to follow His lead. That first step is a doozy however...trying to find the right leads and help to locate such a bus as is needed for Honduras is not easy. Know of anyone who could help us with the legwork...perhaps even with pricing? Please let me know.

CHE training for the first phase ends today in Talanga, which is very exciting. This has involved all the pastors, Oscar, and the master trainer here in Honduras to make this happen. Adolfo, the lead trainer, says the group is a good one...very encouraging to continue to push forward to see how things take shape. This means initial training for the communities of San Juancito, Cantaranas, and Talanga have been finished. Where they go from here...yet another shoe for God to tie. 12 people will finish with diplomas today to go back and use CHE to make an impact in their communities.

And before I get bogged down in a blog that includes all the other litany of things going on in these parts...let us end for at least today on some picture related oddities:We had guests this past weekend...that Saturday was the first I can remember in many moons that I can almost say I did nothing productive and somewhat relaxed. One of the fun things was shopping for sushi supplies, which took us to a few different grocery stores. One store here has a corner on the market for some items from the USA. In this case, the store's name "Más por Menos" which translated would be More for Less...should be in this instance Less for More. This is a regular sized box of Ritz...nothing special but the price. On sale now for only $10.42!! What a steal when regular price is $13.06! I expect things to be more expensive here if imported, although most of the time it is not that bad...but this was a instance I could just not believe...until I saw the regular sized package of Oreos near it for $7.40. Needless to say...we found our sushi supplies, but somewhere else where they were much, much cheaper.

And here is Valerie trying out making sushi for her first time ever. We went cheap and easy with the ingredients...no fish, just veggies, but they turned out remarkably well. The only complaint that was presented was that the low-sodium soy sauce might have been too low sodium, and that the powdered wasabi was not up to snuff, otherwise, all held together as it was supposed to, and was quite tasty...and most importantly was done on the cheap compared to buying it elsewhere. We are trying to procure some of the good stuff for the proper assault on the senses (although procuring eel sauce is probably not on the radar screen for the time being.) If we can teach Dilcia how to make it once we have those items in place, we might be eating sushi several times a week...good eats! And this from a guy who otherwise would never order rice in a restaurant or ask for it in any other meal. Go figure.